Peter Attia Exits CBS News After Epstein Files Inclusion & John Oliver Criticism

Just one month after Bari Weiss named Peter Attia as a new contributor to CBS News, the longevity medicine researcher has resigned from the network amid backlash for his inclusion in the Epstein Files. Attia told the network he would be resigning immediately on February 23, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Attia appears in the Epstein Files more than 1,700 times in email correspondences with Epstein, most of which took place in the mid-2010s, according to THR. It’s been nearly a month since his inclusion was made public, with Weiss controversially opting not to fire him after his name was first linked to the convicted sex offender.

His resignation from CBS News comes one day after John Oliver bashed the network for employing him. On Last Week Tonight, Oliver referenced how Attia lost his position as chief science officer for David, a protein bar company, but was still employed by CBS News.

“It is wild that CBS News somehow has lower standards than a protein bar company that markets their products like this, and also like this,” he pointed out, before sharing some of David’s “sexually-charged advertising,” per The Daily Beast.

Earlier this month, Attia publicly shared a letter he had written to his team about his inclusion in the Epstein Files. “The purpose of the DOJ releasing these documents is clear: to identify individuals who participated in criminal activity, enabled it, or witnessed it. I am not in any of those categories, and there is no evidence to the contrary,” he began, before reiterating that he was “not involved in any criminal activity.”

Attia made it clear that he was never on Epstein’s plane or island, adding, “My interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone. However, he did apologize. “[I] regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me. I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it,” Attia wrote.

The doctor specifically referenced an email where he and Epstein engaged in “crude, tasteless banter.” He wrote, “Reading that exchange now is very embarrassing, and I will not defend it. I’m ashamed of myself for everything about this. At the time, I understood this exchange as juvenile, not a reference to anything dark or harmful.”

He also explained the extent of his interactions with Epstein. “Between summer 2014 and spring 2019, I met with him on approximately seven or eight occasions at his New York City home, regarding research studies and to meet others he introduced me to,” he said. “I never visited his island or ranch, and I never flew on any of his planes. When I was at his home, it was either meeting with him directly, meeting with small groups of scientists, doctors, or business leaders, and once at a dinner in 2015 with a number of guests including prominent heads of state. In retrospect, the presence and credibility of such venerable people in different orbits led me to make assumptions about him that clouded my judgment in ways it shouldn’t have. ”

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Toward the end of his lengthy message, he insisted, “The man I am today, roughly ten years later, would not write [those emails] and would not associate with Epstein at all. Whatever growth I’ve had over the past decade does not erase the emails I wrote then.”